Rarely does a vehicle received in trade at Glenn CDJR in Louisville, Kentucky, not make its way into the retail line, points out General Manager Tom Cecil.
In fact, the dealership is retaining more than 90% of its trade-ins in a broader effort to grow and keep its customer base by offering a wide range of price options.
“We are keeping almost everything. Really, the goal is to increase volume. In a lot of markets, there’s a pretty big consumer base that wants a $6,000, $8,000, or $10,000 car. There are a lot of people in that price point because that’s what they can afford, or it’s for a child, or secondary car.”
Worth noting, though: Glenn CDJR is not alone in holding on to more trades and steering away from the wholesale lane with more vehicles.
Looking through data from 14,000 rooftops, vAuto AVP of Inventory Solutions Patrick Janes noticed the developing trend last year. He found dealers were retaining and retailing 85% of trade-ins.
In the first quarter of 2026, the number jumped to 87%.
“I keep hearing from dealers that they are hanging on to more [vehicles] for the affordability crunch, and they are putting more money into recon,” Janes told CDG News. “It’s with both higher mileage and older vehicles that need a little more perfuming.”
Zooming in: Janes and vAuto analysts broke down the retention rates based on mileage on trade-ins.
The share of vehicles with fewer than 50,000 miles being retained has remained at 92% since the start of the year.
Vehicles with up to 100,000 miles are being kept at an 87% rate, an increase of 1% from January.
Those trade-ins with up to 150,000 are staying at the dealership 73% of the time.
The vehicles brought in with more than 150,000 are still being kept at 55% of the time, up 2.35% from January.
vAuto also noted a slight increase of between 0.1% and 0.3% in special financing, while the percentage of wholesaling was down across the board, and as much as 2.62% for the highest-mileage vehicles.
Back to Cecil: The strategy of keeping nearly all trades is not new for Cecil. He said a previous store he was at found that most of the vehicles they wholesaled never left the market, and chances were an independent dealer would sell it to someone in the same zip code.
With new vehicle prices at or above $50,000 and interest rates from 6% to 9%, Cecil stated it’s important to provide options to consumers.
According to Experian, new car loan payments were $770 per month at the end of the first quarter, and $531 per month for used vehicles.
“There’s an awful lot of people in every part of the country that want nothing to do with a $600 monthly car payment, which I respect. We keep most of our trade-ins because a lot of them represent a good price.”
By the numbers: At Glenn CDJR, they average 3.5 used-vehicle sales per new sale.
Many of the trade-ins, he added, are for used-vehicle purchases, and many of those accepted vehicles are used to “keep the cycle going.”
“I’ve never worked at a store where, when we wholesale used cars, we made a bunch of money. For me, if we can keep them, grow our customer base, collect a doc fee on every transaction, and in some cases get another trade-in, it makes sense.”
Recon strategy: The investment in reconditioning depends on the vehicle, according to Cecil.
With the right vehicle, he will spend a little extra money and labor to recon.
But the strategy is to make sure the vehicle is safe.
They may opt out of fixing certain items and include them in the disclosure.
Customers are also allowed to take vehicles for independent inspections.
While most of the recon work has been absorbed into the service lane, the team does utilize a couple of small independent shots to assist with getting vehicles to the front line.
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Other factors in retention rates: Scott Brown, Director of Used Operations for Berglund Automotive Group’s 10 locations in Virginia, points out that their retention rates vary based on the stores.
He stated the high-end Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, and Land Rover stores range between 75% and 85%. Kia stores are more in the 50% range.
Brown said Virginia’s strict inspection laws impact their decisions on whether to retail and wholesale some vehicles.
They also have a partnership with Manheim, which holds an auction in one of their closed dealerships.
More than retention rates: Brown is focused on look-to-book rates, which he wants above 50% and making sure recon times stay between five and six days.
“We measure those two items pretty hard,” Brown said.
Takeaway for dealers: May data from CarGurus showed used vehicles eight years and older had the greatest demand and used options under $25,000 the shortest days on the market.
It may be worth looking at your strategy on retailing and wholesaling trade-ins to provide additional options to price-conscious consumers.
“A lot of dealers don’t want to get into selling those inexpensive vehicles, but in general, as long as your communication is above board and you’re prepared to do the right thing if somebody has an issue quickly, I think that price point can actually be really good for the business,” Cecil said.
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